


Pre Delivery

by GeesCLUELESSgirl, momiji_neyuki



Series: The Delivery [2]
Category: Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Established Relationship, Extremely Dubious Consent, Happy Ending, Healing, Homophobia, M/M, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Past Abuse, Past Relationship(s), Physical Abuse, Punishment, Rape Recovery, Therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-21
Updated: 2016-04-21
Packaged: 2018-06-03 13:08:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6611767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeesCLUELESSgirl/pseuds/GeesCLUELESSgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/momiji_neyuki/pseuds/momiji_neyuki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Hi Amy."</p><p>He swallowed, smiling slightly.</p><p>"So what are we talking about t-today?"</p><p>"Well Gerard, I think you have made some amazing progress talking about your current past, but now I would like to talk about your past when you were in college. Before you met Frank."</p><p>Gerard shuddered, looking down. He took a deep breath, then looked back up.</p><p>"Where do you want me to start?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pre Delivery

**Author's Note:**

> Hey everybody!
> 
> So a few people on MCR FF asked _***GeesCLUELESSgirl***_ if we would consider writing a prequel to **Special Delivery** and explain what Gerard went through before he met Frank. We thought about it and decided that we liked the idea. We decided to make it a one shot though...that turned out to be over 10,000 words long. @~@
> 
> The fic takes place in the future with Gerard and Frank and is mostly flashbacks with the ending being back in the present...well future. ^0^
> 
> Please enjoy guys. ^-^

_***Time Stamp: One Year After Special Delivery***_

"Alright baby, I will pick you up in an hour and we can go have lunch at that new place that just opened near the mall."

Frank leaned over a kissed his husband. It was sweet, but there was want hidden behind it. Frank pulled back and smirked.

"Maybe we'll stop by Rick's and see if he has anything interesting or new too."

Frank wiggled his eyebrows at Gerard and watched him blush and giggle. The car door opened and Frank playfully swatted his ass as he slipped out onto the sidewalk.

"Love you baby."

And then he was gone.

Gerard walked in through the glass front doors of the unassuming building, and up to the reception desk. Behind the desk sat a woman in her early forties. She had very short greying hair, but the color was the only thing that hinted at her age. She was wearing a light blue shirt and a black pencil skirt that reached to just below her knees. Gerard thought about asking where she'd bought it, cos he was pretty sure he could pull that look off, and that Frank would like it too, but decided against it as she looked up, smiling kindly at him.

"Hi Gerard. Here for your 11:30?"

"Uh..."

Gerard bit his lower lip nervously. He wasn't sure why he still got nervous coming here, he'd been visiting Dr. Lee for quite a while now.

"Yes ma'am."

The receptionist frowned slightly at him.

"How long have you been coming here Gerard?"

"Umm..."

"Several months, yes?"

Gerard nodded.

"And I tell you every time to call me Carol, don't I?"

Again, Gerard nodded. Carol raised an eyebrow.

"Yes Carol."

He smiled sheepishly. Carol grinned back.

"That's better. Now, take a seat and I'll let Amy know you're here."

She stood up and headed toward the psychiatrist's office door, knocking before she disappeared inside.

Gerard sat on the small red couch that was against the left hand wall. There was a table to his right with a small stack of fashion magazines on it, but after a quick inspection, Gerard realized that he had read them all already, and sighed, cos it was testament to just how often he'd been in that waiting room. After a minute, Carol returned, smiling kindly and gesturing for Gerard to get up.

"Dr. Lee will see you now."

Gerard stood and walked over, a timid smile on his face.

"Can I get you a coffee Gerard?"

"Yes please ma'am. I mean Carol."

Carol grinned wide.

"Cream, no sugar, right?"

Gerard nodded.

"I'll bring it through."

Gerard nodded and stepped into the room, as Carol stepped out and closed the door. Taking a breath, he walked over to the hanging cocoon chair that he'd taken to using on each of his visits, and crawled inside, getting comfortable before he even acknowledged the dark haired woman who was sat opposite him. There was a variety of different chairs and even a traditional psychiatrists couch to choose from, and he had tried nearly all of then when he first came, but had found that the cocoon chair was his favorite, as he felt comfortable, enclosed and safe, yet he could still talk to Dr. Lee. Once he was in his chosen position, he met the Doctor’s eyes and shyly spoke up.

"Hi Amy."

He swallowed, smiling slightly.

"So what are we talking about t-today?"

"Well Gerard, I think you have made some amazing progress talking about your current past, but now I would like to talk about your past when you were in college. Before you met Frank."

Gerard shuddered, looking down. He took a deep breath, then looked back up.

"Where do you want me to start?"

"Why don't you tell me what you were like growing up. How did your parents raise you? Did you get along with your sibling? Did you have any close friends? That sort of thing.

Gerard sighed.

"Easing me in huh?"

He smiled wryly.

"Okay then. Well Mum and dad were great. Dad was always kinda overprotective. Not as bad as now of course, but still."

He looked down at his hands. He was silent for a couple minutes while he collected his thoughts, then he looked up again, smiling softly.

"I was always close with Mikey, and I had a few good friends through High school, but then I met this guy called Stuart."

Gerard trailed off, looking down as tears slipped from his eyes.

"Take your time and go on when you are ready Gerard."

A shiver ran through Gerard's body at the memories. After a minute or so, he carried on, but kept his eyes down.

"Stuart was nice. He asked me out the first week of junior year. I hadn't even come out to my parents yet, but I said yes, and it was good for a while."

He paused, biting his lip and frowning down at his hands, twisted together in his lap.

"Were you sexually active at that time yet?"

"No. I wanted to wait."

"And did you?"

Gerard's breath hitched.

"I wish."

"Alright, so Stuart took your virginity. Did you stay together afterwards?"

"Yeah…well at first we were going to break up, but then he apologized profusely and so apologetic and bought me flowers and..."

Gerard giggled slightly at the memory.

"…he kinda won me over, and we got back together. We were together for just over a year, then, then I came out to my p-parents."

"And how was that?"

"Not so good."

Gerard frowned....

_Mikey and Gerard walked in the door and met with a look they never wanted to see on their parents face._

_"Michael, go to your room, we need to talk to Gerard...alone."_

_Gerard looked at Mikey nervously, then nodded._

_"I'll be up in a bit. Don't eat all those donuts, half are mine."_

_"Okay Gee."_

_Mikey gave Gerard a look that means that he was going to be close by if he needed him._

_Gerard smiled and watched his little brother head off upstairs. He turned to his mum and dad._

_"Ok, w-what's up?"_

_"We got an interesting phone call today."_

_Don looked at Donna._

_"Gerard...do you know a Stuart Remington?"_

_Gerard's eyes widened. He looked back and forth between them, his hands starting to shake a little._

_"Gerard..."_

_Don stood there with his arms crossed. Gerard's bottom lip trembled and he bit it to stop the shaking. Donna walked up to her son and took his hand._

_"Gerard...you said you went to the prom with a friend right?"_

_Gerard nodded._

_"Was that friend Stuart?"_

_Tears slipped down Gerard's cheeks as he nodded, closing his eyes, so he couldn't see their reactions._

_"He was more than your friend wasn't..."_

_"Oh for Christ sakes Donna, stop coddling him!"_

_Donald yelled making them both jump._

_"Stuart's parents claim that you turned him gay, that you molested him and convinced him to have...."_

_Don could not even finish the sentence._

_"W-What? NO!"_

_Gerard couldn't catch my breath._

_"He, he a-asked m-me out."_

_"He asked you out?"_

_Don raised an eyebrow._

_"And I suppose he asked you to the prom too?"_

_Gerard sobbed, his chest hurting._

_"Y-Yes."_

_"And when you...it was...?"_

_Don looked at his wife when she said that._

_"Look none of this matters. His parents pinned all the blame on you and since you are older, you are responsible unless you can prove otherwise."_

_Gerard's eyes went wide, then he quickly fumbled to get his cell out of his pocket. It took him nearly a minute to get his fingers to cooperate enough to find the massively long text conversation he'd kept on his phone. When he found it, he thrust the cell at his dad, a frightened and desperate look on his face._

_"What's this about?"_

_Gerard sobbed, taking the phone back and quickly searching till he found the part of the conversation he wanted them to see. The bit when Stuart asked him to prom. He handed the phone back._

_*Hey listen, I was thinking...why don’ts we go to prom together? It could be fun and was could pretend that we just couldn't find a date...and I'll get a motel afterwards and you can do that cute little thing you do with your...*_

_Don dropped the phone. Gerard blushed as he bent to pick it up. As he stood back up, his head swam, eyes rolled back and he passed out, collapsing to the floor._

_*_

_*_

_*_

_Gerard woke up on the couch with his mum sat beside him, and his dad sitting in his chair across the room, staring at him with an unreadable look on his face. Gerard slowly pushed himself upright. He couldn't meet his dad's eye. Donna handed him a glass of water._

_"How are you feeling?"_

_Gerard drank about half the water, then smiled slightly at his mum._

_"I'm okay."_

_"Gerard sweetie, we know what this boy's parents said, but uh...clearly you were the uh...girl in the relationship yes?"_

_Gerard blushed red, looking down at his knees thinking about the actual skirt that Stuart had convinced him he looked good in. It was hiding deep in his closet._

_"I, I guess kinda."_

_"Donna! Don't encourage this phase!"_

_Gerard looked up, anger starting to seep into him._

_"It's not a phase dad! I…"_

_He swallowed._

_"I'm gay!"_

_"You're too young to know what you are. You have not even tried to date a girl yet."_

_"I'm not interested in girls dad. What don't you get about me being gay?"_

_Gerard was getting annoyed now._

_"Why don’t you try dating a girl first and then decide!"_

_"I don't need to decide! Being gay isn't a choice dad!"_

_"Yes it is!"_

_Gerard stood up abruptly._

_"And when exactly did you decide to be straight, huh dad?"_

_Don also stood and stepped to his son._

_"When I married your mother!"_

_"So you tried being gay and didn't like it?"_

_Gerard knew he was pushing it, but now he'd started, he couldn't stop._

_"What? No, I wanted kids and..."_

_"And Gerard can have kids too, he just has to adopt."_

_Mikey came out and hugged his brother._

_"You knew about this?"_

_"Don't start on Mikey. He didn't know anything!"_

_Gerard defended._

_"He just gets that this is me. Same as I've always been."_

_"And you don't care that you share a room with him?"_

_Mikey rolled his eyes._

_"Why would I? He's my brother. I love him no matter what."_

_Gerard looked at his dad like he'd been slapped. His voice went small and shaky._

_"You, you think I'm gonna do... I'm not a perv dad!"_

_Tears started to stream down his face._

_"I'd never..."_

_He shook his head, trying to get the very thought out of his head._

_"Th-That's sick."_

_Gerard's breath was almost as shaky as he was now._

_"Donald, I want you to stop this right now!"_

_Donna had clearly had enough._

_"That boy took advantage of our baby when he was discovering himself. We have the proof that he was not the one that started any of this and that is what matters!"_

_Donna turned to Gerard._

_"Baby, if this is who you really are, than I accept you."_

_Gerard sobbed heavily._

_"It, It is."_

_Donna hugged Gerard tightly. She then turned to Donald._

_"Well Don, aren't you going to say something?"_

_"I still think it's a phase, but…”_

_Gerard cracked._

_"IT'S NOT A FUCKING PHASE!"_

_He screamed, pulling out of his mum's arms and heading for the stairs, tears streaming as he ran up and quickly locked himself in the bathroom._

_"It's not a phase."_

_He whimpered as he slid down the door and pulled his knees up to his chest._

_"It's not."_

_"Look what you did!"_

_Mikey ran after his brother._

"That must have been really hard for you Gerard. At least you had your mother's and your brother's support. How long did it take your father to come around?"

Gerard sighed heavily. He'd long since stopped wiping away his tears.

"Nearly a year."

He laughed dryly through his tears.

"He kept trying to show me his girly mags."

"Well at least you could give those to your brother."

"You _say_  that."

Gerard smirked, eyes twinkling. Amy laughed.

"How did your dad take that?"

"Mikey didn't tell them till dad had accepted me. He kinda just sighed and gave in at that point."

"So you both were accepted, but when did you start another serious relationship?"

Gerard stiffened. He knew this was coming, and he really wasn't looking forward to it.

"Take your time, we can do this more than one session if you want."

Gerard sniffed.

"I-I need to t-talk about this.."

He sobbed, burying his face in his hands for a moment, then mumbling through his fingers.

"But it's r-really hard."

He looked up.

"Some of this, I never even told Mikey and I tell him _everything_!"

"Let's start with where you were at before you met your next relationship."

"Well..."

Gerard began quietly.

"I was in college. No one really paid me much attention for a while. I'd had a couple boyfriends, but nothing serious. Like, a couple dates, nothing physical beyond kissing. No one I'd wanna take to meet the parents or anything."

Gerard frowned down at his hands.

"But there was this guy from my art history class, Tom. He was nice and we kinda got together, but I didn't want anything too heavy, y' know?"

"Okay and what happened with him? Did he accept you for who you were?"

"Well I _thought_  he did."

Gerard chewed on his lip.

"I thought he understood that I wanted to take things slow, but it turned out I was wrong."

"Did he try and force himself on you?"

"No no nothing like that."

Gerard played with the sleeve of his shirt for a moment, trying to keep his hands busy so he didn't chew his nails. Why waste a good manicure?

"He was sort of passive aggressive. He'd not _do_  anything, but he'd make comments a lot. Then one night we were at this party in one of the frat houses. I hadn't really wanted to go, but he talked me into it...”

_"Come on Gerard. Monica and Jewels are going to be there. You have not seen them since they came back from Spring break."_

_"That's true I guess. But I kinda just wanted to stay in tonight; it's been a long week."_

_"We stayed in the last three nights though!"_

_Tom crossed his arms and pouted._

_"Come on Gee...please?"_

_Gerard rolled his eyes._

_"Fiiiine!"_

_Gerard whined slightly._

_"I'll go. But I don't want a really late night. Okay?"_

_"Sure babe, whatever you want."_

_Tom kissed him and then patted his ass._

_"Now go get ready. I gotta go on a beer run to get us in."_

_With that he left. Gerard sighed and went to get changed. By the time Tom had returned, Gerard was showered and dressed in tight black jeans, a ripped black shirt with pink paint splatters all over it, black high tops and his favorite leather jacket._

_"I'm ready."_

_He grinned._

_"Let's get this party started, shall we?"_

"So you went to the party, how was it?"

"Pretty cool at the start. We both had a couple drinks, though I'm not a big drinker, but Tom likes his shots, so he was getting wasted kinda quick."

"Come on babe, dance with me."

Tom made uncoordinated moves against Gerard's thigh. Gerard pushed him back a little.

"Hold on a minute babe. Just gotta go take a piss. This drink's going right through me."

He giggled, turning and heading toward the nearest bathroom.

* * *

"And what happened when you returned to him?"

Gerard shuddered.

"He was..."

He sighed deeply.

"…he was making out with a guy from our art history class. He had his hand down the guy's pants, right there on the dance floor."

"That must have been tough for you to see. Did you react?"

"Yeah!"

Gerard laughed.

"I reacted alright…”

_"You stupid bitch!"_

_Tom stood there soaked in the beer that his now ex-boyfriend threw at him._

_"What the fuck is your problem?! Are you bi-polar or something?!"_

_Gerard's eyes widened._

_"What's my problem?"_

_He fumed._

_"I just caught you with your tongue down his throat, and your hand down his pants! What the fuck do you think my problem might be, huh?"_

_"We was jus havin a litl fun, that's all babe. Come on, you know I lov..."_

_Tom couldn't finish cause Gerard slapped him in the face hard. The crowd just "oooohed"._

_"Don't you fucking dare say you love me!"_

_Gerard spat, too angry to realize there were tears streaming down his face._

_"If that was true, you wouldn't be doing that!"_

_"Waataya tryin to say babe?"_

_Gerard took a deep breath._

_"We're finished!"_

_Tom tried to say something, but instead he threw up. Gerard shook his head and turned away. He really needed another drink and a cigarette. Grabbing some fruity alcopop thing, he dug his smokes from his pocket and headed out to sit on the front steps of the building._

_Gerard drank about half of the bottle in one go, coughing at how disgustingly sweet it was, then put it down next to him and lit up his cigarette, sucking the poison deep into his lungs, and trying to relax. He could still hear the party going on inside, and decided that as soon as he'd finished his drink, he was going to head back to his room, pack up the few things of Tom's that had made their way into his space, dump them outside Tom's dorm room, then go to bad and try to forget that the slime ball ever existed._

_"Hey man, nice job getting rid of the useless baggage."_

_Some guy sat down next to him with his own bottle. He placed it next to Gerard's._

_"You have a mean right, but please don't use it on me."_

_He smiled and held out his hand._

_"Benny and I am assuming your name is not bitch right?"_

_Gerard chuckled, looking at the guy. He was nothing much to look at, kinda looked like Jack White, though not as cool._

_"No. I'm Gerard."_

"Well he seemed nice. Did you guys get along well?”

Gerard huffed a laugh.

"We did."

"So I guess you enjoyed the rest of the party then with Ben."

"Actually? No, not so much."

"No, why, what happened next?"

"He, he kinda spiked my drink…well his and then pretended it was mine."

"Well...I guess you can't judge a book both ways. So what happened next?"

Gerard rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"We were sat talking. I was telling him about Tom…”

_"We were going out for a month or so, and he said that he understood that I wanted to take things slow.."_

_Gerard picked up his bottle and took a drink, putting it down between them afterward._

_"But you heard him in there, right? He called me bi-polar cause I got pissed at him practically fucking someone on the dance floor!”_

_"Man, that is fucked up."_

_Ben picked up Gerard's bottle and took a sip holding it in his hand. Gerard picked up the bottle next to him and drank deeply._

_"Yeah. It is."_

_He ran his fingers through his hair, then took another drink._

_"Look. It was nice meeting you, but I'm kinda not in the mood to socialize anymore. Think I'm gonna head back to my dorm."_

_Gerard stood up, swaying dangerously. He brought the bottle up to his eyes, squinting at the label as he leaned on the railing at the side of the steps._

_"How much, how much alcohols in these things? I only had a couple."_

_He took another sip, giggling afterward._

_"I think I'm a little drrruunk."_

_Ben grabbed Gerard by the waist to keep him from tipping forward._

_"Easy there tiger. Sometimes you don't realize how much is in what you drink. I think you need to lay down for a bit. Come on, I'll bring you upstairs and you can sleep it off."_

_Ben started to lead Gerard into the house when someone grabbed him._

_"You are not going anywhere with him."_

"It was Max wasn't it Gerard?"

Gerard nodded, tears sliding down his cheeks.

"Yeah, it was."

_"Excuse me, who the fuck are you?"_

_Ben looked at the guy who was stopping him from hitting his next conquest._

_"I am the guy who saw that you drugged him and I am not letting you take him upstairs and rape him."_

_Gerard was having trouble following the conversation. He looked at Ben with blurry eyes._

_"You didn't. What? What's he.."_

_His knees buckled beneath him and he would've fallen if Ben wasn't holding him up._

_"I don't.. Fffeelll sssso.. Goooo...."_

_"Whoa, I got you angel."_

_"No you don't, now let him go before I call the cops."_

_"Bullshit, you wouldn't call..."_

_Ben's eyes went wide as the guy pulled out his wallet and showed a badge. It was the kind when someone had a cop in their family that they could show if in trouble._

_"Alright man, you win, I'm leaving."_

_Ben let go of Gerard and let the boy fall._

_"He's probably bi-polar like the other guy said anyway."_

_Max hauled off and punched him knocking him over the low railing into the bushes. He pulled Gerard up and put his arm around his shoulders._

_"Did you drive here?"_

_"What? I.. Who are you?"_

_"My name is Max and I have intention of doing anything to you other than getting you to your own dorm safely."_

_"My…"_

_Gerard's eyes rolled around in his head like marbles for a moment._

_"Sh-Shakespeare H-House. Room 18."_

"So he took you back to your dorm and what happened next?'

Gerard smiled slightly, looking up through his wet lashes.

"He stayed, to make sure I was okay, and didn't choke on my own puke or something."

He chuckled humorlessly.

"He was really nice to me then. I think maybe, if we'd just stayed as friends? Maybe everything would've been okay."

"So you became friends after that moment. How long did that last before it progressed to lovers?"

"I don't know, about a month or so?

Gerard remembered the day Max told him that he wanted to be more than friends.

"I went out with a couple of girlfriends from my graphic art class. They knew I had a thing for women's clothes, we'd talked about it before, but they'd never seen me in them, so they persuaded me to dress up for our night out. We had fun."

He grinned when he thought of that night.

"And I felt free to be myself with them. We got a little tipsy."

He giggled.

"But when I got back to the dorm, Max was sat on the steps waiting for me…”

_"Oh excuse me, let me get the door for...Gerard is that you?"_

_"Hi Max. What're you doing sitting out here?"_

_Gerard slurred slightly, wobbling on his high healed Converse boots._

_"I was waiting for you, but I can see that you had made other plans apparently._

_Max puffed angrily on his cigarette._

_"I'm sorry, but Lucy and Kelsey from my graphics class? They invited me out. It was fun actually."_

_"And this is how you dress when you go out? Gerard, you look like a ten dollar whore."_

_Max finishes his cigarette and stomps it out while getting up._

_Gerard's face fell._

_"You d-don't have to be m-mean!"_

_He sniffed, looking down._

_"I just like d-dressing in w-women's clothes. They, they make me feel p-pretty."_

_He turned away toward the door so Max wouldn't see him cry._

_"I'm gonna g-go in. Goodnight Max."_

_His voice was choked and quiet as he reached for the door handle._

_"I think you're pretty without all this. I think you're pretty just looking like you!"_

_Gerard froze, his hand hovering near the handle._

_"What?"_

_His voice cracked. He turned slowly._

_"You, you think I'm pretty? For real?"_

_Max still kept his back to Gerard._

_"Yeah Gerard I do. I think you are amazing and talented and do not need to hide behind all that."_

_Gerard could feel his face heating up._

_"Thank you Max. That means a lot coming from a good friend like you."_

_"I wanna be more than friends Gerard."_

_" You do?"_

_Gerard had always thought Max was cute, but never even realized he was gay._

_"I didn't know you swung my way."_

_He giggled slightly, descending the steps slowly toward his friend. Now Max turned around._

_"Anyone would be lucky to have you as anything in their life, but I want to be the only one that gets to love you like that."_

_Gerard stumbled, pitching forward from the third step with a frightened squeak, his eyes widening and arms flapping helplessly._

_"Gotcha."_

_Max leaned forward and caught Gerard in his arms. He looked up and his and wiped away the lipstick he was wearing._

_"I want to kiss you and just you."_

_"Okay."_

_Gerard said breathlessly, as he slowly wrapped his arms around Max's neck._

"Sounds like a fairy tale almost."

Amy took a sip of her coffee and encouraged Gerard to do the same before continuing.

"Ha ha. I didn't even see Carol bring this in."

Gerard picked up the cup and drank some. It was a little on the cool side, but it was coffee, so Gerard was okay with it. After a few sips, he continued.

"Things were really good at the start. God! I feel like I said that about every boyfriend I've ever had. Except Frankie of course. Things between Frankie and I were _always_  good. It's just that other people tried to ruin it."

He took another sip, trying to avoid the inevitable direction the conversation was headed in.

"What happened when you told your parents?"

"What that I was seeing someone?"

"And that it was a serious relationship."

"I didn't for a while. I wanted to take things slow, cause that's just me, y' know."

Gerard smiled shyly, putting his cup down on the table, just outside of his cocoon chair.

"But I let him get closer than anyone had, since Stuart. And then I went to visit mum and dad one weekend…”

_"Hi mum, hi dad."_

_Gerard called as he shut the front door and dropped his backpack at the bottom of the stairs._

_"Hi son, it's good to have you home."_

_Before anyone had a chance Mikey came barreling out of their bedroom and tackled Gerard with a full body hug._

_"Woah there Mikes!"_

_Gerard laughed._

_"You nearly put us both down._

_He grinned, holding his brother out at arm's length to look at him or rather, to look up at him._

_"Geeez Mikey. Don't you ever stop growing?"_

_"Nope! When I get to college, I'm gonna tower over you!"_

_Mikey laughed looked down at his brother._

_"Hey Gee, what's that on your neck?"_

_Gerard flustered, pulling up the collar of his jacked._

_"N-Nothing."_

_He stuttered, cheeks pink and eyes turned to the ground._

_Mikey smirked as he stood up and helped Gerard up._

_"Nothing huh?"_

_"Nothing Mikey!"_

_"Fine, whatever."_

_Mikey dropped Gerard's hand and left the room. Gerard sighed. He'd have to apologize to Mikey later, after his mum had stopped trying to squeeze him to death._

_"So someone sit down and tell us all about how college is going."_

_Gerard's parents dragged him to the living room. As they sat down Mikey came out of his room with his coat on._

_"Where are you going?"_

_"Out."_

_Mikey walked out the door._

_Gerard tried to go after him._

_"Mikey?"_

_But his mum seemed to have other ideas._

_"Oh just let him. He's been like that for a while. We think he has a secret girlfriend."_

_Gerard smiled weakly, knowing they were wrong._

_"Yeah, maybe."_

"I take it that your parents didn't know about you brother yet."

"No, not then. It wasn't long after that though."

"So how did your parents find out?"

"Well, they decided to take me out to lunch, and we kinda saw Mikey with his tongue down this kid's throat outside the local 7-11."

Gerard smirked.

"They said nothing, and acted like everything was normal all through lunch. Like they hadn't seen it. When Mikey came home that evening, mum just looked up from the film we were watching and said..."

Gerard raised his voice in a bad impression of his mother.

"Your boyfriend looks nice. What's his name?"

Gerard laughed, rolling his eyes.

Amy had to laugh too.

"So now you had something to bond with your brother over."

"We were always close, but this, us both being out, it kinda brought us closer. Gave us common ground.”

“So did you ever actually meet his boyfriend and how long were they together?”

"I did. And _actually_ , they're still together."

Gerard smiled.

"It's a good thing too, cos Pete's saved my ass _more_  than once now."

"You and Peter were friends before Mikey started going out with him?"

"We were in some classes together.”

Gerard shrugged.

"We weren't like besties or anything."

"Sounds like you became friends though at some point."

"Yeah. Well we did a couple projects together, and got talking."

Gerard smirked.

"I told him a bit about Max, and he told me some about _his_  boyfriend, though he never mentioned his name."

"Oh ...so how did you find out that they were together?"

Gerard laughed.

"Pete said he wanted to introduce me to his boyfriend. It was funny as fuck when we walked into this diner, and Mikey was there waiting for us."

_"What are you doing here Gee?"_

_Gerard stared at Mikey._

_"I'm here to meet my friend Pete's boyfriend. What're you doing here?"_

_Mikey looked around blushing._

_"Uh...I'm here on a date...with Pete."_

_Gerard's eyebrows disappeared into his hair._

_"You are Pete's boyfriend? Damn,  I wish he wasn't so into sharing now."_

Amy's eyes went wide and then she laughed.

"I can only imagine what the look on your brother's face was when you said that."

"He turned the color of a my hair, and he looked like a goldfish with his mouth opening and closing."

Gerard grinned.

"Fuckin' priceless! Wish I'd taken a picture."

"So I take it you were fine with them dating?"

"Well of course I went all big brother on them and demanded Pete told me what his intentions toward my brother were. Pete looked terrified, but I couldn't keep a straight face, and nearly passed out from laughing so hard."

"So it sounds like things were going well."

"They were."

Gerard agreed.

"Pete was a bit hyperactive and annoying at times, but he was good for Mikey, and they both seemed really happy."

"You were too, so what happened?"

Gerard went quiet, his brow furrowing and his eyes looking down at his lap as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"Things changed.  _Max_  changed."

Amy shifted a bit and flipped the page she was writing on to a clean sheet.

"Okay, deep breath Gerard."

Gerard breathed a deep, shaky breath, his knuckles white as he gripped his shirt tightly. He kept his eyes and voice lowered as he started to speak again.

"It was little things at first, like if we went out to eat, he'd order for me. I thought it was sweet to begin with, but then I noticed that he was ordering things like steak, or burger for himself, and salads for me. I asked him about it, and he said he presumed I was on a diet."

Gerard dug his fingers into his sides.

"I said I wasn't, and he looked at me like I should be."

Gerard frowned, biting his lip.

"What about the way you looked. Did he try to control your appearance?"

"He, he said I didn't need to dress as a g-girl to be p-pretty. I told him I liked it, but he said it made me look like a whore, and…and if…”

Gerard broke down, sobbing heavily, burying his face into a cushion.

"Take your time Gerard. We can take a break anytime you need."

Gerard shook his head, trying to regain control. After a minute, he hiccupped slightly, wiping away his tears, then continued in a small voice.

"He said that if I insisted on dressing like a wh-whore, then he-he'd _treat_  me l-like one."

"That must have not felt good. Did anyone else notice this change in behavior?"

"Well not at first, but it wasn't long before Pete did, I guess."

_"Gerard, I know you are having a creative slump right now, but all artists go through it."_

_The creative arts professor patted Gerard on the shoulder and moved on to the next student. Pete watched as Gerard sat slumped staring at a blank canvas._

_"Hey Gee, you okay?"_

_Pete noticed over the last few months that Gerard smiled less and that he turned his body inward more. He also noticed that he was losing weight fast. Gerard smiled weakly at his friend._

_"I'm ok Pete, just not feelin' this I guess."_

_He shrugged, looking back at the canvas and dropping his paintbrush hardly onto the table at his side._

_"Hey, how about we go get some coffee. You look like you could use the pick me up. My treat."_

_Gerard smiled brighter at the thought of coffee. Delicious, hot, life giving coffee._

_"Okay Pete, let's go."_

_"Great, I'll just get my bag."_

_Gerard stood up, hitching his pants up as they slipped down on his hips. He'd need a new pair soon, or a smaller belt. Stepping away from his work space, his head spun slightly, and he put his hand on the wall to steady himself. Pete turned and saw that Gerard was having trouble balancing himself._

_"Easy there tiger, there will be plenty of coffee don't worry."_

_Pete laughed and held Gerard's hand as they exited the building and walked across the quad to the coffee shop on the corner. Pete knew what Gerard drank so he had him sit down and he went to order._

_*And I’ll pull your crooked teeth You’ll be perfect just like me You’ll be a lover in my bed And a gun to my head We must never be apart *_

_The Smashing Pumpkins resonated from Gerard's phone. Gerard swallowed as he pulled his cell from his pocket. He knew who it was. Only one person had that ringtone. He pressed the answer call button and put the phone to his ear, looking out the coffee shop's window._

_"Hi."_

_He said softly, anxiety creeping into his voice._

_"Where are you."_

_It was not a question, but a demand._

_"I-I'm at the coffee shop."_

_"I'll be right there."_

_He hung up without saying anything else._

_"Here we are! I thought you deserve a special treat!"_

_Pete put both drinks down._

_"You pick whatever one you want."_

_He then left the table._

_Gerard looked at the iced coffee drinks, mounds of whipped cream on top. He paled slightly. He couldn't drink that. He was fat enough as it was. That, would go straight to his thighs. But Pete had treated him, and it would be rude to refuse. Gerard slipped a straw through the hole in the top of the clear domed lid, pushing quickly through the cream to reach the caramel blended caffeine hit beneath. He took a sip, moaning quietly at the delicious drink. It was a while since he'd had anything sweet._

_"I knew you would go for the caramel."_

_Pete returned to the table with a sweet treat for them. He placed the plate in between them and then placing his straw in the cup he lifted it towards Gerard._

_"Cheers Gee, to a better tomorrow!"_

_Gerard's eyes bulged at the deserts. He could practically feel the cellulite building on his thick thighs._

_"W-What's that?"_

_He pointed at the two delicious, but seriously fattening looking sweets._

_"That Gee my love is heaven. It is called a mocha cake and it is a little bit of heaven on earth."_

_"And a whole lot of fat on the hips."_

_Pete looked up and saw Max. He also saw that Gerard flinched at the sound of his voice. Pete had to be honest. In the beginning Max seemed to be great for Gerard. He smiled more and looked really healthy and happy, but lately he was acting the opposite. Without being invited Max sat down. He looked at the drinks and the dessert._

_"Light snack Gee?"_

_Gerard looked down at his lap as his hands left the table to twist together between his knees nervously._

_"I-I wasn't feelin' good. Pete was t-trying to cheer m-me up."_

_He said quietly._

_"Oh and why did you need cheering up? Not happy about something Gee?"_

_Pete had enough now._

_"Look, I just wanted to take my best friend for a treat. Is that so wrong?"_

_Max looked at Pete and saw something in his eyes briefly._

_"No of course not, but it did make Gerard forget that he was meeting me after class for an early dinner."_

_Gerard looked up between his friend and his boyfriend. They didn't have plans. Did they?_

_"Well no matter, we can still make it if we leave now. Come along Gerard. I'm sure you understand Pete."_

_Pete didn't understand, but Gerard seemed to as he rose quickly with Max's hand around his arm. Pete did not miss the slight wince and the fact that Max was using pressure on Gerard's arm. He wanted to say something more, but he had a feeling that it would make everything worse for his friend._

_"Sure, no worries. Hey Gee, you're still going to your parents’ house on Sunday right?"_

_"Why would that matter to you?"_

_Max raised an eyebrow that Pete knew Gerard's plan._

_"Oh, you didn't know Max? I'm dating his younger brother."_

_Gerard could feel Max's fingers dig into his arm painfully. Great, more bruises._

_"No, I guess Gee forgot to tell me this. Well Gee, come on. We have a date to keep."_

_Pete watched Max pull him towards the door. As soon as they were gone, Pete texted Mikey._

_*Hey Mikes, somethings going on with Gee. We need to talk.*_

_~Mikey's Baby~_

"Was that how the physical abuse started or had it been going on by then for a while?"

Gerard cringed, rubbing his wrists subconsciously.

"A while."

His voice shook.

"He liked m-making me cry."

"Did he say why?"

"He said I d-deserved it."

"Deserved it? What for? What could you have done that you deserved to cry for it?"

F-For eating. For talking to other g-guys.."

Gerard sobbed.

"For wanting to dress like a wh-whore."

"Okay Gerard. Another deep breath please. Now I know this will be hard, but would you please give me a brief description of the abuse, from the minutest to the most extreme. None of it is excusable, but I want to understand how far he took it."

Gerard couldn't stop the tears that had began to stream down his cheeks. He tried to breathe, but he could feel a panic attack coming on, just at the thought of reliving those moments. He was shaking hard, and his hands twisted into his hair, pulling roughly.

"Gerard."

Amy was there on her knees with a gentle hand on his knee.

"He is not here. He cannot hurt you anymore, but it is because of him that you were able to be manipulated by Jon. We need to find the root so that this can never happen again."

Gerard was gasping, curled in on himself, his eyes unfocused as memories tore at him like rabid dogs.

"How about we stop for today. I think you have had enough."

Gerard's lip trembled, but he shook his head, trying to steady his breathing.

"N-No! I need to d-do this!"

He swallowed deeply.

"But can I have a quick b-break and call F-Frankie?"

"Yeah, we can do that. Why don't you go have a cigarette. I'll have Carol make more coffee."

"Thank you."

Gerard smiled weakly, before climbing shakily out of his cocoon, and heading to Amy's balcony, closing the door behind him and pulling out his half crushed pack of cigarettes and lighting one up before pulling out his phone and pressing speed dial 1. The phone rang just twice, then Frank answered.

"Hey baby, what's up? How's the session going?"

Gerard breathed shakily. Just hearing Frank's voice helped him to calm down.

"It's, It's been k-kinda rough."

"Awww, I'm sorry baby, but I am so proud of you Gee. After you get out, I have a big surprise for the best and bravest husband in the world."

"Is it chocolate, cause I need chocolate."

"it's better than chocolate baby, but I don't want to spoil the surprise yet."

"Aww.."

Gerard pouted.

"Meanie."

He giggled slightly, his tears drying now.

"I love you Frankie."

"I love you too baby, so much."

With a few more declarations and kisses, he hung up. Gerard finished his cigarette, stubbing it out on the railing, then dropping it into the alley below before heading back inside. Amy and a large, steaming cup of coffee were waiting for him. He smiled softly as he crawled back into his cocoon and got comfy, picking up the cup and taking a sip. He sighed in delight.

"Mmmm Carol makes a good cup of coffee, I'll have to thank her later."

Amy noticed right away how much more relaxed Gerard was not that he had talked to his husband.

"He really helps you doesn't he?"

"Sometimes he's the only thing that can."

"Well hopefully when these sessions end, you will be strong by yourself again and Frank can just be supporting that."

Amy smiled lightly and sipped her coffee.

"Now, deep breath and begin."

Gerard took a long sip of his coffee, then set it down and closed his eyes.

"Max treated me like property. He would dictate where I went, what I did, what I wore and ate, and who I talked to. He made me feel small and worthless. He called me names. Slut. Whore. Freak."

Gerard hesitated, taking a breath.

"The words hurt, and he made me believe them, but it was when he started to get physical that I knew I was in trouble."

Gerard remembered back to that day that Max dragged him out of the coffee shop, and straight back to his dorm room.

_"Max please. You're hurting me."_

_Gerard sobbed, trying to pull his wrist free from the older man's tight grip._

_"Slow down Max."_

_He tripped on the curb and would've gone down if Max wasn't still dragging him roughly his dorm. Most of the time his roommates were gone and he had the room furthest from them all._

_"Please Max."_

_"You made a fool of me again Gerard. You need to understand that this is not allowed."_

_He dragged Gerard up the stairs and pushed him through the door._

_"Max?"_

_Gerard rubbed at his sore wrist as he backed up away from his boyfriend, knowing there was going to be a bruise by morning._

_"I think we need to set a few more ground rules for you. so that you can avoid punishments…like the one I am going to give you now."_

_Max cracked his knuckles. Gerard backed up more, till his back suddenly met with the wall._

_"Max please. I, I..."_

_"Please what Gerard?"_

_"P-Please don't."_

_Gerard's breath was coming in shaky gasps now._

_"Well how else am I going to be sure that you are going to behave. You are like a child Gerard and you need guidance and rules and punishments for when you break those rules."_

"And what were some of those punishments?"

Gerard swallowed, pulling the sleeves of his top down over his hands and shoving them between his thighs.

"He'd, he'd cuff me to the b-bed. M-Make me suck h-him off. He was rough. He'd gag me, and he’d fuc…”

Gerard sobbed.

"I _t-tried_  to s-stop him, but he'd, he'd hit me, and ch-choke me."

Gerard screwed his face up as he recalled that day again.

"That day was p-particularly bad. He said I wasn't g-going to leave the d-dorm for a w-week."

He looked up slowly.

"He meant it."

"I'm sorry that you went through all that, but remember you are here today standing tall inside and you have the life that you deserve."

Amy flipped the page on her pad again.

"Let's move forward to that dinner at your parents’ house. Peter had said that he was going to be there with your brother. I take it that they met him and they approved of Peter for Michael?"

"They _did_  actually."

Gerard smiled softly, hiccupping as he wiped away a few tears that had fallen.

"Dad took him to one side, and when they came back, Pete was the color of a ripe tomato, and he's never told us what dad said to him."

Gerard giggled.

"I think dad gave him ' _The Talk_ '."

"You brother must not have taken kindly to being considered the girl in the relationship from what I know of him."

Amy laughed and then brought herself back.

"Was the dinner supposed to be just you there? Had they met Max yet?"

Gerard shook his head.

"Max did something with his own family on Sunday’s, but after he found out about the family dinners he insisted that he would start coming to them too.”

“This was an escape from him wasn’t it?”

Gerard sighed, nodding slowly.

“Yeah, I really enjoyed them and I got closer with Pete too. He would practically flirt with me, but everyone knew that it was not real. It was still a little weird and I think my dad thought that Mikey would get mad, but he never did.”

"So let's talk about the dinner when Max showed up."

"It was about a month after the one he couldn't go to. His family didn’t like that he wanted to change their plans and I thought that maybe he changed his mind, but of course he didn’t.”

Gerard fidgeted in his cocoon, pulling his knees up tighter against his chest.

"I was dreading it when I was at mum and dad's, cause I knew Max was gonna be there soon, and Pete was messing around as usual. Max texted to say he was ten minutes out. In the middle of cutting peppers I could feel my anxiety rising.”

“It sounds like the panic attacks were getting worse.”

“Yeah, I mean a I had a few of them before, like when I came out to dad, but now they were harder to control and then effected everything that I did. They were also getting harder to hide.”

_"Gerard, just calm down sweetheart. I am sure we are going to love the boy. After all he chose you."_

_Donna gave her son a kiss on the cheek and went back to cutting the cucumbers._

_"Ooohh, my favorite! Donna, you sweetie, how did you know I love this salad?"_

_Pete slid up to the counter and leaned against Gerard as he looked over his shoulder and stole a piece of pepper._

_"Only because you have eaten it every time I made it and then asked for the recipe for your mom Pete."_

_Pete pretended to be thoughtful and then laughed._

_"This is true."_

_"Pete, come on. Let the ladies get back to work."_

_Mikey ribbed good naturedly. He stole a cucumber from his mom and then pulled Pete into the living room. Donna laughed._

_"Oh Gerard, I am so happy that your brother found a wonderful boy like Pete. I'll be honest, we were a little worried about him being your age and Mikey being so young, but he is so sweet, I don;t know why we were concerned."_

_"God rescue me Gerard!"_

_Mikey ran in and wrapped his arm around his older brother._

_"Dad and Pete are arguing over football again."_

_Gerard giggled softly, untangling himself from Mikey._

_"You either put up with boring football talk, or come and listen to us 'ladies', talking about our feelings. Your choice Mikes."_

_He raised an eyebrow, smirking at his brother._

_"It's not your brother's fault that you chose to date someone from Chicago dear. You should have known that would start some trouble."_

_Mikey looked at Gerard with pleading eyes._

_"Please Gee. You at least used to watch football with dad on Sundays. Just a few minutes?"_

_"Ugh, fine, but you're helping me dye my hair tomorrow. deal?"_

_"You got it Gee!"_

_Mikey jumped up and down and grabbed Gerard's hand dragging him into the living room._

Amy smiled. She loved how Gerard’s demeanor changed when he talked about his brother. She was always impressed by the Way sibling relationship.

"So big brother saves the day again huh? You were quite a hero to Michael weren't you Gerard?"

Gerard shrugged.

"I guess a bit. But not as much as he was to me."

"So what happened when Max arrived. Were you still engaged in conversation with your father and Pete?"

"Yeah. I was actually having fun, and the fact that Mikey was totally trying to change the subject, and couldn't, just made it even funnier."

Gerard's smile slipped.

"Then the doorbell rang."

_"I'll get it."_

_Donna walked to the door noting that no one even heard her._

_"Hello, you must be Max. Gerard is expecting you."_

_Max frowned internally. If he was expecting him, why didn't he answer the door?_

_"I'm happy to hear that, where is he?"_

_"Stuck in the middle of a heated sports discussion between my husband and Pete."_

_Max bristled slightly at the sound of the other man's name, but just shrugged it off as a chill and it seemed to work as Gerard’s mother ushered him in._

_"Well then enter the living room and get warm by the fire."_

_Max smiled and nodded and headed into the house following the older woman. When he got to the living room he was not happy with what he saw. Pete had his arm around his property._

_"Just admit that Joe Namith was a better QB than Jim Harbaugh ever could have been and we'll call it even."_

_Pete frowned and pulled Gerard in closer._

_"No way! Come on GeeWay, back me up here!"_

_Gerard chuckled, rolling his eyes._

_"This is one argument that I'm not going to settle and if you really want the truth? I only ever watched the football to see all the men in their tight pants."_

_He shrugged, giggling slightly._

_"Sorry."_

_"Awww, that's okay GeeWay, we still love you right Don?"_

_"Yes son although that is a bit of disturbing news to hear."_

_Pete squeezed Gerard's hip affectionately._

_"That's what I love about you best GeeWay. You make disturbing cute."_

_Pete kissed his cheek and that is when Max saw red._

_"I'm partial to Tom Brady myself so that leaves me out of this."_

_Everyone one looked up when another voice filled the room. Gerard knew he was in trouble as he turned to look at his boyfriend. The calm tone, tight smile and raised eyebrow told him he probably wouldn't be able to walk, this time tomorrow._

_"Hi Max."_

_He swallowed, stepping away from Pete's side to approach the older man. When he reached him, he tiptoed to kiss his cheek. He was shaking badly, but trying to hide it._

_"Max, I'd like you to meet my dad. Dad? "_

_He turned._

_"This is my boyfriend, Max."_

_"Nice to meet you son."_

_Don got up and shook Max's hand._

_"Nice to meet you too sir."_

_Gerard wanted to go to the kitchen to see his mum, or the bathroom to hide, but Max's other hand was wrapped around his waist, and he wasn't letting go. Pete and Mikey had disappeared when Max arrived clearly not wanting to be there for their own reasons._

_"So Gerard tells me you are originally from California. Makes sense who your quarterback is."_

_The two men started to talk about football again._

_Gerard cleared his throat quietly._

_"Excuse me. I just need to..."_

_He pointed toward the stairs._

_"Bathroom."_

_Max loathed to let the boy go, but it would look funny if he didn't._

_"Hurry back baby."_

_Gerard nodded and stepped away. Once he reached the top of the stairs, he practically sprinted into the bathroom, locked the door and dropped to his knees, emptying his breakfast into the toilet as quietly as he could._

* * *

_Pete and Mikey were in his room. Pete could see that Mikey was upset, especially after the conversation that he had with him a few weeks before. They had also started to talk about the marks that Pete started to see on Gerard as well as the limp that said it was not great sex that caused it. Pete decided to distract Mikey by making out with him. That was kind of Pete’s way of dealing with anything. They both jumped though when a door slammed._

_"Gee."_

_Pete nodded. Mikey kissed him and then left for the bathroom. He could have opened the door. Both he and Gerard knew how to, but it was not the time. He instead sat against the door on the outside and slipped his fingers under letting them rest on the tile and waited._

“You mentioned this as something that you boys did to offer nonverbal comfort.”

“Yeah, it was the perfect communication.”

_Gerard wiped his mouth on a handful of tissue, then flushed it down the toilet. He slumped onto the floor, his chest heaving painfully. He lay there for a couple of minutes with his eyes closed, letting the cold of the tiles seep into his body then, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw his brother's pale fingers. Sobbing silently, he dragged himself over to the door, and rested his fingers on top of Mikey's, before laying back down, his cheek pressed to the cool ceramic tiles._

_"Gee."_

_Mikey felt his fingers grasped, but they were shaking. He knew something was very wrong. Something more must have happened when he and Pete left Gerard with that man downstairs. Mikey may have been the younger brother, but he was fiercely protective over Gerard. Gerard squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to steady his breathing. It wasn't working, and he was headed into another panic attack. Mikey felt the grip on his finger tighten. It was from fear and he knew his brother was in trouble._

_"Pete!"_

_Pete came out and listened to Mikey's instruction and popped the door open. Mikey let go of his hand for as long as it took to get into the bathroom and with a look of apology to his boyfriend close the door. He gathered his brother up in his arms._

_"Gee, talk to me, tell me what's wrong?"_

"But you didn't tell him did you? You said you were stressed about school you stated. You managed to fake the rest of the night."

Gerard nodded, unable to meet Amy's eyes.

"I know he believed me, but I stuck to that."

He sighed.

"Max had me too scared to speak out. He had me doubting my own mind, and what I knew. He had me thinking that no one would believe me if I told on him."

Gerard took a deep breath, releasing it on a shudder.

"He had more control of me than I even knew myself."

"So when was the breaking point. When did you finally reach out and to whom?"

"About two months later."

Gerard chuckled wryly.

"And it was  _Pete_ , of all people."

Amy looked at her watch, they had about 15 min, but she wanted to hear the breakthrough for sure.

"Tell me how that day started."

Gerard looked up, tears falling unchecked.

"I woke up in pain. Max had punished me the night before, and everything hurt."

"Did you have class that day?"

"Yes, but I had no intention of going. I had other plans."

"Tell me about them."

Gerard looked down, feeling the pain of that day.

"I was going to leave. I was going to pack a bag and run away."

He swallowed heavily.

"I was going to disappear."

Amy took a breath.

"Did you get caught?"

Gerard shuddered, nodding afterward.

"I had everything from my own dorm, but stupidly I left something important to me at his. It was something Mikey gave me and I decided to go back for it.”

Gerard took another shuddering breath.

“Max was supposed to be in class…he wasn’t though…”

_You never learn do you Gerard."_

_Max had a twisted smile on as he looked at the broken, well mostly broken, naked form of his property huddled in the corner. He started to strip himself not wanting to get blood on his clothing. He was glad now that class was cancelled. If it hadn’t be would have missed out on this lesson. His cock was already rock hard from the fear he was inflicting on the younger man._

_"I think you will move in full time now and I will walk you to and from your classes...that’s if you can walk after this punishment. I think we will stop going to your parents on Sunday too."_

_Max knew that Gerard's family meant everything to him. This was a good way to punish the boy._

_"No please, *sniff* I'll, I'll be good. Please Max, don’t take away my family?"_

_"That what you said last time Gee, but you never are. You can't be. You were born bad and bad little boys need to be punished."_

_Max reached into the draw and pulled out the scourge he bought for...special occasions._

_"I don't think you will make it to class today baby."_

_Max started to walk over to the corner. He grabbed Gerard by the hair and pulled him to the middle of the room. Less chance of blood splatters on the bed._

_“Oh God, please no!”_

_He raised his arm high and brought it down._

_*_

_*_

_*_

_Pete was headed up the walk to Max’s dorm. Gerard was not in class so he checked his dorm first. He was not there either, so that meant he could only be one other place. Max made Gerard go to is dorm after classes, even when he was not there. Pete still did not understand why Gerard put up with him. He could also see the bruises getting worse and Gerard was having more trouble hiding them. Today Pete decided to cheer Gerard up with a low fat muffin and a skim latte since that is what he had drank lately. Maybe he could talk to him and finally find out what was going on with out that excuse for a human around. The window was partly open and a nice breeze was blowing the curtains. He reached up to knock when a scream pierced the serene moment._

_"Gerard."_

_Pete tired the door it was locked._

_"GERARD!"_

_He started to shoulder the door and felt it gave way while more scream filled the air. A third push of the fragile door and it gave way. He saw the place a mess. A bag of clothes over turned and dumped out. It was all Gerard's stuff. More screams from the back where he knew the bedroom was. He grabbed one of the heavy candle holders from the living room and headed back there quickly._

* * *

_Gerard couldn't take much more. He wanted to die right then._

_"Ahhhh!"_

_His vision was swimming and he could taste blood._

_"Please…"_

_He could feel himself slipping away._

* * *

_Pete ran in and could not believe what he was seeing. His best friend was being raped and scourged at the same time. This animal who didn't even deserve a name anymore was hitting with the whip at the same time he was thrusting. Gerard was a heap of skin and blood, his hair matted with it. Pete raised the candlestick high and brought it down on Max's head._

"I...I never knew it was that bad Gerard."

Amy had tears in her eyes. She had only had one other client make her cry like this.

Gerard sobbed pitifully, curling up in a tight ball, trying to hide from the memory.

"I-I owe P-Pete my l- life."

He dug his fingernails into his own palms, breaking the skin in places, but he didn't even notice.

"If he h-hadn't come.."

He couldn't continue. Amy broke the rules. She moved from her seat and wrapped her arms around the much older man in the chair. She cried with him for all the tears that he shed in the past and then ones he was not able to shed. The buzzer ending the session went off and they both ignored it till Carol knocked on the door.

"Amy, your two o'clock is..."

Carol saw the state of the two adults and closed the door quietly. She asked if they wouldn't mind rescheduling as the doctor had an emergency.

"Gerard, I want you to know that you are the bravest individual I know and your story is an inspiration to anyone that wants to give up after they leave an abusive relationship."

Amy wiped her tears away.

"I, I _did_  want to give up, so _many_  times."

Gerard sobbed against her shoulder.

"And if it weren't for P-Pete and my f-family.."

He shook his head, breath hitching.

"I would have."

Amy moved back to her seat.

"I'm sorry for the unprofessional behavior."

Gerard sniffed, wiping his face on his sleeve and shaking his head.

"No. Thank you."

He looked at her with wet eyes, tears still falling.

"I-I've kept all that inside for so long. It ate at me every day, and killed me in my dreams every night."

He shook his head again, looking down.

"F-Frankie doesn't even know m-most of it."

"Well then I'm glad that we had this session even though it was painful."

"I should talk to Frankie, shouldn't I?"

"Yeah, you should and you should also talk to Peter. I don’t think that he truly knows what he has done for you."

Amy smiled.

"Well Gerard, I think we are good for today. I'll see you same time next week."

Gerard nodded, carefully wiping his eyes before climbing unsteadily out of his cocoon. His legs felt like jelly and he wobbled as he moved to shake Amy's hand.

"Thank you Amy."

He smiled softly.

"I'm really glad Frankie persuaded me to come see you back in July. It really is helping, I think."

He stepped closer and gave her a small hug.

"See you next week."

He smiled, then headed out of the room, waving to Carol as he passed. As Gerard stepped out into the bright afternoon sunshine, a wide smile spread across his face at the sight before him.

"Hi Frankie."

He beamed, as he walked toward his husband, who was stood, leaning against their car, with a grin, and a large bunch of flowers in his hand.

"Hey there baby. Thought you could use a bit of cheering up."

He handed Gerard the flowers.

Gerard smiled wider, taking the flowers and throwing his arms around Frank's shoulders.

"Thank you."

He pressed his lips to his husband's.

"I really need cheering up right now."

He buried his face in the crook of Frank's neck.

"Can we just go home and cuddle please?"

"Sure baby, I just have to make one quick stop."

They get in the car and Frank drives them to a building a few blocks up. The place looks closed, but Frank produces a key.

"A friend asked me to check up on the place while they were gone. Keep me company?"

"Okay Frankie."

Gerard smiled tiredly. The session had taken a lot out of him. Frank took Gerard's hand as they walked to the door. He opened it to a white room with all the furniture covered in sheets to protect it from dust.

Gerard looked around the room curiously.

"This is a nice space. It's got good light."

"Yeah, it does."

They walked through the first room to the second. This one was a bit more spacious with lots of wall space.

"He said he left it back here."

Frank seemed to be talking to himself as he continued to lead Gerard. Gerard trailed behind Frank, their fingers linked.

"What're you looking for?"

"My friend said he left an envelope back here for me."

The moved through the second room into a hallway. There was a storage closet, a bathroom, one closed door, and then an office at the end. On the desk was a manila envelope.

"Hey baby, I gotta take a piss. Can you open the letter for me while I go?"

Frank kissed Gerard on the cheek and then left the office.

Gerard picked up the envelope and carefully peeled open one end. Peering inside, he saw several sheets of paper. He tipped them out onto the desk. He wasn't really sure what he was looking at.

"Mr. Way?"

Gerard turned around.

"It's Iero-Way."

He held out his hand.

"And you are?"

"Mr. Tems, pleasure. Well if you will just make sure the paper work is in order and then sign, we can consider the deed yours."

"What?"

Gerard was confused.

"What deed? I'm confused."

"The deed to your new art gallery of course Mr. Iero-Way."

Gerard was having an out of body experience, he was sure of it.

"I'm sorry. _Say_  that again?"

"Why don't you have a seat and take a look at the paper work."

Gerard sat down heavily in a squeaky blue office chair, and picked up the papers with shaking fingers. The words on the page seemed to confirm what Mr. Tems was saying, but it didn't make sense. Gerard couldn't get his head around it.

"So then, are you ready to sign?"

He swallowed deeply. He wasn't sure he could even hold a pen right now, let alone sign his name. Where was Frank? Frank would know what to do.

"Go on baby, sign."

As if Gerard had been able to conjure him up by magick, Frank appeared in the doorway.

"Frank? You _did_  this?"

"Just sign Gee, everything will be explained after."

Gerard accepted the pen that Mr. Tems was holding out to him, and signed next to an arrow tab at the bottom of the page. He looked up at Frank questioningly.

"Congratulations Mr. Iero-Way and good luck."

Mr. Tems shook Gerard's hand as well as Frank's and then left.

"You look like you could use a drink."

Frank held his hand out for Gerard to take.

"Frank?"

Gerard took his hand and stood slowly.

"Tell me?"

Frank said nothing, but led him to the closed door in the hallway.

"We can talk after your drink."

Frank stepped back so Gerard could open the door. Gerard frowned slightly at his husband, then turned and pushed the handle down. The door swung inward with a small scratching sound.

"SURPRISE!"

Frank laughed as Gerard literally jumped into his arms as all their friends and family stood up from their hiding spot. Pete had taken a champagne bottle and shook it up and now it was spraying over the still covered table, cause Frank's brother law is smart enough to know that his husband is an idiot at times. Gerard stared around at everyone. His mouth was hung open and his eyes were wide.

"You dicks!"

He half laughed, half sobbed.

"You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

He turned his face to look at Frank, their noses touching.

"And you're the biggest dick of all."

His shocked expression morphed into a grin.

"But I love you…"

He leaned in to whisper into Frank's ear.

"…and your dick."

"Gerard, I'm not sure that you should be calling your mother a phalicy and..."

"Oh lighten up Don, I'm not a delicate flower that is going to faint from my son's vulgarness."

Everyone laughs and Frank puts Gerard down.

"Congrats bro, you should have had this years ago."

Mikey hugs Gerard tightly.

“*omph* Not so tight Mikey. You're gonna break my ribs."

"Yeah, back off Mr. Wentz and let me get a piece of that action."

Pete stepped in where Mikey was and hugged Gerard almost as tightly.

Gerard hugged back, laughing slightly, then held Pete out at arm's length.

"Later, I want to talk to you in private. Okay?"

"Anything you want GeeWay."

"That's GeeIeroWay...shit, that sounds horrible huh?"

Frank laughed. Gerard smiled fondly and stepped back into Frank's arms, resting his head on Frank's shoulder.

"Sounds perfect to me."

He looked over at his dad.

"You were in on all this daddy and you didn't tell me?"

"I can keep a secret too you know."

Don winked at his oldest and smiled.

"Alright, enough of this sentimental shit, let's get this party started!"

Pete grabbed another bottle of champagne he shook up and sprayed everyone. Gerard flailed his hands as he tried to back away, but it was no use, Frank kept him right where he was.

"My favorite shirt!"

He exclaimed, bursting into laughter with everyone else a moment later.

"So then take it off and the real party can start GeeWay!"

Pete smirked and then ducked as both Frank and Mikey smacked his head. Gerard laughed louder.

"I'll let you off that one Pete. You earned it."

He winked, then stepped over and kissed Pete's cheek, leaving a pink lipstick mark in his wake. Pete blushed and everyone laughed. It was going to be a good day after all.

*

*

*

Frank sat on the bed as he watched Gerard emerge from the bathroom. He had a towel around his waist and he was drying his hair with another one as he hummed something melodic sounding. Frank watched and his heart skipped a beat.

"I love you."

Gerard stopped in his tracks, his head slowly raising so their eyes could meet. A grin spread on his face.

"I love you too Frankie."

He dropped the towel he was using on his hair to the floor, then walked over to the bed and climbed on. He crawled up till he reached Frank, and straddled his lap, resting his arms around Frank's neck.

"And I always will."

"Good."

Frank pushed his hand into Gerard's hair and pulled him in for a kiss. There was no heat behind it, just all the love that he had. When it broke, they were both smiling.

"You really do deserve a place to show case your own art Gee."

Gerard snuggled against Frank's chest.

"Thank you Frankie."

He looked up, smiling wide.

"Did I ever tell you you're the best husband in the world."

"That's not possible cause that title has been taken by you."

Gerard giggled.

"Let's just call it a draw, yeah?"

"Speaking of draw, I have another surprise for you."

Frank reached into the nightstand draw and pulled out a pack of markers.

"And what exactly do you want me to do with those?"

Gerard raised an eyebrow in query.

"Well, I will have you know that I am a bit of an artist myself, but unlike you, I use a different canvas."

Frank ran a finger down the center of Gerard' chest lightly. Gerard shivered.

"You, you want to draw on _me_?"

"You bet baby. You are the best canvas in the world."

Gerard stretched his arms lazily above his head, the towel at his waist slipping down on his hips, and starting to come undone.

"And how do you _want_  me, baby?"

He wiggled his eyebrows and smirked suggestively.

Frank chuckled.

"Lay down for me."

He took the markers back and popped the package open. Gerard smiled, then shuffled back, off of Frank's lap, and lay down on his back, fingers linked behind his head.

"Like this?"

"Almost perfect, but put your arms to the side so i can use them too."

Gerard rolled his eyes, sighing as he did what he was told.

"They better not be permanent."

Frank rolled his eyes. He waved the package in front of Gerard's face.

"Their for body art. Geeze Gee, give me some credit."

Gerard sighed deeply.

"Fine, whatever, but no rude words and if you draw a dick on me, you'll pay!"

He giggled, cause intimidating really wasn't his thing. No more words left Gerard's mouth though as the marker was pushed against his skin and Frank quietly began to create.

*

*

*

"There and now the finishing touch."

Frank signed his name.

"Frankie!"

Gerard breathed.

"It's.. It's _beautiful_!"

The design of flowers, butterflies, and vines ran from up one of Gerard's arms diagonally over his chest and ended at the opposite hip just where the V dipped into his inner thigh.

"One last thing."

Three quick clicks and a flash went off.

"There."

Frank started to text something on his phone.

"Who are you sending that to?"

Gerard grabbed for the phone.

"I thought Pete would get a kick out of my design."

Gerard's eyes went wide.

"You sent it to _Pete_?!"

Gerard pounced on Frank, trying again to get the phone.

"Frankie _give it_. Show me what you sent. Frankie!!"

Frank laughed as he held the phone up making Gerard lunge for it. His towel fell completely off now and made the art on his body even more amazing.

"Don't you dare..."

*click click*

"FRANKIE!"

Suddenly Frank was on his back and Gerard on top of him reaching up, but he brought his hand down quickly and tucked it underneath his body.

"Gotta be faster than that Gee!"

Gerard whined, then shoved both hands underneath Frank.

"Stop stop stop Gee, you know I'm ticklish there!"

Frank started to squirm all over the place laughing and breathing heavy. The flash was going off constantly.

"Okay okay I give!"

Frank pulled the phone out and showed Gerard there was nothing bad about the pic.

"I just *puff puff* wanted to share *wheeze* my art with him."

Fuck he needed to stop smoking. Gerard took the phone and looked at the multitude of weirdly angled pictures of random parts of his body.

"Which one did you send him?"

"The one I was going to in the first place. See, you can only see your arm and chest."

Gerard sighed in relief.

"Well I guess that's ok."

He smiled as he snuggled up to his husband.

"But next time I'm drawing on you!"

Frank laughed and took off his shirt showing all his tattoos.

"Where baby?"

Gerard pondered this for a moment, then grinned, grabbing Frank by the shoulders and turning him around.

"I'll color in your back!"

"Alright baby, you can do that."

Frank put the phone on the nightstand and turned over on his stomach. He sighed as he felt Gerard touch his back and begin creating his own work of art.

* * *

"Pete, come on!"

"Hold on, I just have to shut down!"

Pete huffed at his impatient husband as he moved the cursor to sleep mode when he saw he had an e-mail. He checked really quick.

"From Frankie huh?"

The e-mail was captioned: 'A True Work Of Art'. Pete figured it was something that Gerard painted. He opened up the e-mail and just stared.

"Pete, it's been like 15 minutes! What the fuck is taking so long?!"

Mikey stormed out of the bedroom and saw his husband staring at his laptop.

"Pete what are you...oh fuck!"

Mikey groaned and shook his head.

"It's true you know. It is a work of art."

Pete was staring at close up of Gerard's cock with what looked like a hand drawn tattoo next to it. It looked off kilter so Mikey figured that it was an accidental picture and certainly not meant for Pete. He reached over and hit the delete button.

"Awwww Mikey, why?"

"Cause you already have one Way cock, you don’t need the other."

Pete pouted as Mikey led him to the bedroom.

"Besides, Gerard taught me a few tricks when we were younger."

"Oh really? Ow!"

"Mind out of the gutter Pete, you know I meant verbally."

"Well then Mr. Wentz, why don’t you show me a few of them."

"Gladly."

They kissed as the bedroom door closed.

 


End file.
